The Corruption of the High Order of the Templars
by The Ascended Ancient
Summary: 800 years before Buffy was even born, the battle between good and evil peaked in Crusader-controlled Jerusalem, when the High Order of the Templars, a key part of humanity's defense against the forces of evil, began to become what it had fought against.


_**The Corruption of the High Order of the Templars**_**  
Written By: The Ascended Ancient**

**A/N: This story starts during the season 3 premier, where Buffy is in LA and gets trapped in that demonic work camp dimension place. The story goes into flashback mode after that.**

**Chapter I  
"The Meeting"**

Buffy was dragged out of her cell without warning, waking her from dreams that had been no relief from the hell of her current existence. She had hoped that, considering where she was now, maybe her unconscious mind might end up leaving her alone. Yet Angel's face was still burned into her mind, that look of fear and sadness in his eyes as she plunged that sword into his chest.

Chains were snapped onto her, binding the Slayer to her fellow prisoners, and they were marched out into the mines. Tools were thrust into their hands, whips were cracked, and the work began. Buffy, however, didn't move. She looked around at the guards, all of them demons who she figured she could take fairly easily one on one. If it was just her against all of them, though, it might be a bit more difficult. Still…

"Hey, you!" a raspy voice snapped. "Am I really going to have to come over there?" Buffy turned to see a new demon step into the room. He was tall and lean, with muscles tensed beneath scaly skin. His face was tight, his chin long and narrow. His eyes glowed a bright yellow, torchlight reflected off of his razor sharp fangs, and the pieces of cloth that were draped over his body looked old and were clearly stained with a great deal of blood. Moreover, there was something about him that gave her pause; she wasn't as confident about being able to take him as she was for the others.

The new demon charged forward as he pulled an ornate scimitar out of his robes. Quickly, Buffy grabbed her tools and got to work. There would be time to fight her way out of here later, but for now she needed to bide her time until an opportunity presented itself. The demon, however, kept on coming. Tensing her muscles, she prepared for the fight she knew was coming. She grabbed her chains, ready to break them and strike at this guy as soon as he made his move. But to her surprise, he just brushed right past her. Turning around, she saw what the real source of the commotion was.

"I'm really getting tired of this routine," the demon snarled as he approached a man who was just sitting lazily on a rock. He looked as though he'd been in this place forever, although age wise he didn't look that old. His body was covered in dirt and grime, his clothes were so badly shredded that they barely covered anything on his body, and his brown, disheveled, dirt-filled hair and beard were so long they reached halfway to the floor. The demon stopped right in front of him, raised his sword, and plunged it into the man's gut, twisting it and pulling it to carve him up as much as possible. Finally he ripped the blade out, wiping off the blood on his robes.

"Why can't you just give up?" he muttered, a frustrated scowl on his face, before he walked away.

The rest of the work day passed without incident. Buffy returned to her cell that night, where she spent another night staring at Angel's face as he was sucked into that vortex into an eternal hell. The next day, she was once again dragged out of bed, locked in chains, and dragged back to work. Out in the mines, she got to work right away today, all the while keeping an eye on her surroundings, taking it all in and planning how she's going to get out of here.

Just as things were getting started, however, that demon showed up again. With a cry of frustration instead of words this time, he pulled his sword back out and walked across the cavern. Buffy watched him go, and when she saw who had drawn his attention her eyes almost popped out of her skull. It was that same guy from yesterday, sitting on the same rock that he had been before, just waiting there for the demon to gut him yet again.

_Who is this guy?_ she wondered. Today, as she worked, she kept glancing over at where the man's body lay on the ground. Within an hour, he had picked himself up off the ground and settled back down on his rock for the rest of the day. Buffy knew that somehow she had to speak to him, to find out who – or what – he was. But after a long day of work, and overcome with exhaustion, she just let herself get thrown into a cell with a bunch of other prisoners, and passed out immediately.

That night, the nightmares were worse than usual. This time she actually saw Angel in his new hell, fighting for his life against monsters she couldn't even begin to describe. Over and over again and the monsters tore at his flesh, he cried out for her, begging her to help him, but she never did. She just watched him suffer, the pain and distress of what she was seeing welling up inside of her until she finally just screamed.

She awoke from this nightmare to a hard slap in her face. Her eyes shooting open, she saw a familiar face illuminated in the torchlight.

"Shut up," the man from earlier growled at her, his beard falling on her face.

"Sorry, I had a nightmare," she muttered, wiping the sleep from her eyes. The man turned to walk away, but she grabbed his arm before he could. "Wait. Who are you?"

"I'm no one," he replied. "And don't worry about those nightmares. Before long, this place will be worse than anything you could dream up." He looked down at her hand, as if expecting her to let him go. When she didn't, he wrenched his arm free with a surprising level of force and moved away from her. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Buffy leaped out of bed and followed him.

"You can't die," she stated matter-of-factly. When he didn't respond, she continued, "Is it something about you, or is it something about this place?"

"Me." It was a simple, quick response, filled with an obvious desire to be left alone. Buffy, however, had no desire to do so.

"Then you can get out of here," she said quickly. "Listen, I'm…"

"You're the Slayer. Your strong. Lyrion's stronger."

"Who?" Once again, Buffy's question was ignored as the man just slid into his bunk and lay down. Changing her tactic, she said, "Look, I can break your chains off. You can survive whatever they do to you. That means you might be able to sneak out of here alive. If you do, you need to contact Rupert…"

"No one's sneaking out of here," he snapped, sitting up again. "This place is a tomb. Just accept it and do as they say, and you'll get to spend a few days at the end of your life up there, in freedom. Cause any trouble, and they'll just kill you now." Buffy clenched her fists in frustration.

"I don't see _you_ cooperating."

"I can't die."

"But you feel pain, right?" Buffy sat down next to him. "I saw the look on your face when he stabbed you. You felt that, I know you did." The man was silent for a moment.

"I deserve the pain," he finally responded. "I deserve all of this."

"What are you talking about?" she demanded. "No one deserves this. No one deserves to be a slave." He looked up at her, his pale blue eyes giving her a blank stare.

"It'd take too long to explain," he muttered under his breath. "You'd be better off sleeping and saving your strength for tomorrow."

"No, I'm better off finding out what your deal is." He lay back down, as if to go to sleep. "And I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me." The man looked back up at her for a few moments before leaning his head back on the ground.

"Get comfortable. This is going to take a while."

"Then you'd better get started," Buffy told him. He sighed, and was silent for a moment.

"I was born a long time ago," he finally began. "My name… my name was Zeke Hollman, and back when I was human I was a member of the High Order of the Templars. We were an elite society within an elite society, the best of the Templar Knights, charged by the Church to hunt down demons and other forces of evil. Eventually, we were sent by the Pope to cleanse Jerusalem. That's when things started going wrong…"

**End of Chapter I**

**A/N: Well, this is the end of the first chapter and the beginning of the flashback that will make up the majority of this story. If you like what you've read so far and want to read more about Zeke and the corruption of the High Order of the Templars, please, REMEMBER TO REVIEW!!!**


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